3.1 Principles
The starting point for the Indian National Green Party in industrial relations, as in all policy areas, is ethics. The workplace should provide the opportunity for workers to be empowered and to engage in safe, socially useful and productive work. Criteria such as profitability and efficiency are important in structuring a workplace, but they are secondary.
The central issue in industrial relations is to maintain the arbitration system as the protector of the public interest.
The Indian National Green Party support:
a) the provision of pathways for all employees to have work which is safe, satisfying and socially useful;
b) opportunities for workers to receive education and training appropriate for the achievement of these goals;
c) equal opportunities and fair and equitable treatment across the workforce for all employees;
d) effective consultation between governments, employers and unions on all aspects of industrial legislation;
e) processes of conciliation and arbitration as the proper bases for a fair and effective industrial relations system;
f) the rights of unions and unionists to take industrial action to protect and promote their legitimate industrial interests without legal impediment;
g) the establishment of a Charter of Workers’ Rights in special legislation;
h) the right of all workers to be involved in participatory planning; and
i) a wider role for the Indian Industrial Relations Commission (IIRC) a body to be established as an arbiter in industrial disputes to consider social and environmental implications regarding a dispute. Appropriate representatives of relevant groups should be given standing to appear in the Commission to present their views regarding such implications.
3.2 Goals
The Indian National Green Party aim to:
a) maintain the system of industrial awards;
b) extend the system of equal opportunity throughout the workforce;
c) develop flexible and democratic workplace patterns and structures;
d) support the highest standards of workplace health and safety.
3.3 Short Term Targets
The Indian National Green Party will work to:
a) repeal the provisions against legitimate union activity such as boycotts and pickets in the Trade Practices Act and other pieces of Central legislation, and protect unions and workers against common law actions;
b) provide accredited and transferable training and skill development for employees in a national framework;
c) support a national system of industrial relations and facilitate the provision of more flexible working arrangements/hours where these are not at the expense of work satisfaction, workers’ income or family life;
d) extend union participation in the Central industrial relations system regardless of the nature of the employment of their members, such as casual or part-time employees;
e) facilitate the continued effective and democratic functioning of unions;
f) encourage employee owned or managed businesses, or businesses with significant employee ownership or control;
g) establish processes which ensure the participation of women in enterprise or collective bargaining and other industrial negotiations;
h) support legislation that ensures that employers recognise and negotiate with the relevant unions;
i) support only those enterprise agreements that do not undermine the system of awards and award conditions, and support enterprise agreements that involve employers and unions;
j) ensure resources are provided to organisations of the unemployed to give them an effective voice in society.